It Is Good To Praise The Lord

Scripture:
Psalm 92 (NIV)

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.

It is good to praise the Lord
    and make music to your name, O Most High,
proclaiming your love in the morning
    and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
    and the melody of the harp.

For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
    I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
How great are your works, Lord,
    how profound your thoughts!
Senseless people do not know,
    fools do not understand,
that though the wicked spring up like grass
    and all evildoers flourish,
    they will be destroyed forever.

But you, Lord, are forever exalted.

For surely your enemies , Lord,
    surely your enemies will perish;
    all evildoers will be scattered.
You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;
    fine oils have been poured on me.
My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;
    my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
    they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
    they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
    they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
    he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him. ”

Devotional:

It is good to praise the Lord.  Why is it good to praise God?  What is the big deal?  I say a few words to Him from time to time, isn’t that enough? 

Have you ever felt that way?  When I was younger I had pictures of heaven float through my mind.  In these pictures everyone stood around shouting and singing praises to God.  That was it, nothing else.  I was horrified at the thought of doing nothing but giving someone praise for all eternity.  After all who would be that conceded that they only wanted people standing around praising them.  I thought it would be better to live in this broken world for all eternity than standing or kneeling around praising God.  I had enough after 15 minutes in church.  I couldn’t imagine thousands of days after thousands of days doing nothing but that.

Something else to think about, OK I shifted gears on you in the middle of a thought process but please bear with me.  Think of that special person you love and admire.  When you are talking about them with someone else don’t you give them praise?  You want to give your child praise when they do something really special.  After all I praise my daughter after she plays her piano and figures out a difficult song.  I praise my younger daughter for learning to ride her bike, or our youngest for learning to swing all by herself.  We offer up praise to people, places, and even things all the time.

So the question is why would we not want to praise God?  He is so much more worthy of our praise than anything else in this world.  I cannot give enough praise to Christ for all He has done for me and my family. Psalm 92:4 (NIV) “For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done.”  What more could be said.  God is worthy.  He alone is worthy of all our praise.  As my faith continues to grow I gain new insights and perceptions about God.  I now look forward to the days I can praise God in heaven.  Until then I will offer up my praise to Him here and now.  It is good to praise the Lord…